20 April, 2012

The most valuable Pebble

There was once and incredibly
rich, beautiful, and wise Princess. Tired of false suitors who were only
interested in her money, she announced that she would only marry whoever
managed to present her with the most valuable, tender, and sincere gift of all.

The palace filled up with flowers and gifts of every kind, letters describing
undying love, and love-struck poems. Among all these wonderful gifts, she found
a pebble, a simple dirty pebble. Intrigued, she demanded to see whoever it was
who had offered this gift. Despite her curiosity, she pretended to be highly
offended by the gift when the young man was brought before her. He explained it
to her like this,
"Dear Princess, this pebble represents the most valuable thing one can
give - it is my heart. It is also sincere, because it is not yet yours, and it
is as hard as a stone. Only when it fills with love will it soften and be more
tender than any other."

The young man quietly left,
leaving the Princess surprised and captivated. She fell so in love that she
took the little pebble with her wherever she went, and for months she regaled
the young man with gifts and attention. But his heart remained as hard as the
stone in her hands. Losing hope, she ended up throwing the pebble into a fire.
In the heat of the fire, the sand crumbled from around it, and from out of that
rough stone a beautiful golden figure emerged. With this, the Princess
understood that she herself would have to be like the fire, and go about
separating what is useless from what is truly important.

During the following months she
set about changing the kingdom, and devoted her life, her wisdom, and her
riches to separating what is truly valuable from what is unimportant. She gave
up the luxury, the jewels, the excess; and it meant that everyone in the
kingdom now had food to eat and books to read. So many people came away from
their interaction with the Princess enchanted by her character and her
charisma. Her mere presence transmitted such human warmth that they started to
call her 'The Princess of Fire'.

And as with the pebble, the fire
of her presence melted the hardness of the young man's heart. And just as he
had promised, he became so tender and considerate that he made the Princess
happy till the end of her days.

True love is the most powerful
way to change the world from the inside, starting with ourselves.